Lightning Talks

Session 1 – 9:00 am Saturday, Meeting Place 2 & 3

3D Printing: The New Game Changer

The future we didn’t think was possible is now here! 3D printing has been making significant changes in our world, and just by a creation of a digital file, we have a mass production of physical products, ranging from stunning jewelry, edible food, and human organs. 3D printing has completely revolutionizing the way we commercialize, and it’s important we utilize this emerging technology and embrace its positive impacts on the world. It’s a great technology that can be used to promote innovation and encourage more people, especially women, to join the technology fields and make their difference in the world.

Amazing women

I’d like to talk about one of the most influential women, Marissa Mayer. Her contribution to the computing industry and how that inspired me. Initially, I was not a tech-savvy person too! My perceptions and standpoint of how computing could turn me into a successful woman had changed over time. The inventions in technology are just mind-boggling. I wish to see myself, as a part of some invention as great as Augmented Reality.

Creativity in Computer Science

Sarah Lester
Presented by: Sarah Lester, Drury University

When thinking of creativity, one usually relates it to art, design, or photography. Computer science is unique in that it challenges the scope of what is considered to be a creative field. Programming offers extremely loose constraints on how a certain procedure has to be organized; there are often various ways any given task can be completed, and it is seldom that a teacher or professor will denounce an individual finding a unique solution to a problem. This is the computer science that society does not normally recognize. This talk will explore creativity in the field of computer science.

Forming Your Own Special Interest Group

All students on campus have the opportunity to be a part of a student organization. That also means all students have the opportunity to create an on campus organization! What happens if there is no organization on campus that targets your specific interests? Well, you create one! Creating an organization is a fulfilling and rewarding experience that will allow you to bring fellow classmates together. Organizations are a great way to get to know other students that have similar interests as yourself, who knows, you might end up with a lifelong friend! Find out ways to start your own organization.

Session 2 – 10:00 am Saturday, Meeting Place 2 & 3

Expanding the NASA PVS Libraries

Amy Isvik
Presented by: Amy Isvik, Wartburg College

Reflecting on my experience as an intern with the Formal Methods Group of the Safety-Critical Avionics Systems Branch at NASA Langley Research Center, I will give a brief overview of the importance of formal methods, the interactive theorem prover used (PVS), my results in the fields of graph theory and combinatorics, and my personal and professional development as a result of this experience.

How to mitigate input attack using firewall

Ziwen Chen
Presented by: Ziwen Chen, Grinnell College

My internship supervisor asked me to build a firewall which can fix an input-attack vulnerability of twiki. Since most input-attack vulnerabilities are due to the server not properly sanitizing users’ input, a firewall which cannot modify packet content is incapable of preventing these attacks. I had to find a way to modify the packet content before passing it along. Fortunately, iptables offered a target called NFQUEUE which can queue packets to a Python script. I wrote the Python script to sanitize suspicious strings, re-calculate content length, and then pass the packet along. It offered an alternative way to do things.

Start Something: What It Takes to Create and Maintain a Student Organization

In a world of constant technological change, it is important to have connections to resources that empower you. Starting a student organization can be difficult, but with the right connections and a detailed vision, you can build an organization that creates lasting impact on your community! During this lightning talk participants will gain insight about what it takes to build an organization around their passion, discuss strategies to grow their network and manage connections, learn best practices for budgeting, and discover the power of unified members.

Xstreaming Fitness: Internship Experience

Nikhita Sharma
Presented by: Nikhita Sharma, Iowa State University

I am going to talk about Xstreaming Fitness, my internship project at Sincera Solutions(Iowa), this summer. It is a technology advocate for fitness clubs that allows them to market group fitness classes to remote clients.
I will be sharing my experience of learning a new technology (C# MVC), the difficulties I faced, and how I overcame them to successfully develop connectivity between a mobile and web application, while being the only girl in the office.